


Closed Lungs, Open Hearts

by lesbianoodle



Series: NepreziWeek 2K16 [4]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/F, i can't write aus help me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 09:17:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7678861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianoodle/pseuds/lesbianoodle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I wasn't asking because of your race, Jesus." He says, though Terezi has no idea what he means, "You just seem pretty close for friends, that's all." </p><p>Terezi cackles. "Because she's my girlfriend, coolkid."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Closed Lungs, Open Hearts

"Don't even breathe." Nepeta says, barely sucking in air to form her words, and she closes her eyes tightly as if it will somehow make her invisible. Her legs are shaking with the effort of holding herself up; they're pressed against the back of the refrigerator and her back is pushed against the wall, so that she can just about keep her feet off the ground. Terezi is in a similar position but she's balancing partially on Nepeta, so she's supporting both of them. 

Terezi is suddenly conscious of her loud and ragged breathing. She covers her mouth with her hands and nearly slips without her hands stuck to the wall with sweat. She can't remember how long they've been hiding out here- probably only minutes- but it feels like hours. 

She wishes that she could say something, that she could somehow reassure Nepeta that everything is going to be okay, but she's not sure how to do that without blowing their cover. Instead, she focuses on supporting her weight in this cramped space and tries not to think about how alarmingly close they are to death. She takes her hand away from her mouth, moving it towards Nepeta, about to touch her arm gently to show her that she's not alone. But then, she hears the sound of footsteps scraping along the ground and her hand retracts. 

Terezi listens intently. Footsteps dragging. Nepeta barely holding her breath. Gunshot far away. 

There's a pause as whoever it is- whatever it is- that's stalking them lingers on the other side of the refrigerator, obviously considering it carefully. _Can they smell us?_ Terezi wonders, suddenly completely unsure of herself. It's only been a few weeks since these genetically modified... These government-controlled... These disease-ridden... These creatures escaped from their facility and began terrorising. There were more than anybody ever expected and their city had crumbled in seconds. 

Terezi and Nepeta haven't seen a single face since the end of the world began- not that Terezi would be able to see them anyway. She cracks a nervous smile at her own joke and tears pool in the corners of her eyes, as she fights her crushing lungs to hold on a second later. 

_Please, God, don't let it hear us..._

The lumbering footsteps continue past their hiding spot finally but they're both too smart to immediately gasp for breath and draw attention to themselves. 

Terezi listens until the footsteps sound distant and then takes a very small, very careful breath in. And out. And in. It's not enough to swallow all the air she needs but she doesn't dare breath any harder because if they draw attention to themselves, they're gone. Something warm clamps over her hand and she nearly screams before realising it's Nepeta's familiar hand. She recognises the mole on the side of her thumb and squeezes her hand tightly. 

Nepeta takes a quick, sharp breath. "I think they're gone... Whoever it was." 

"Whatever it was." Terezi corrects. 

"They're still people, Rezi." Nepeta insists, "They're just sick." 

"We need to get back to the hideout." Terezi says and her words make her feel like a child. Like she's a little kid playing spies and she's just mimicking what people say on TV. But this situation is too real and too terrifying and they can never really be sure that they're safe. She's about to ease her way out from behind the refrigerator when suddenly, Nepeta stops her by pushing her hand to her chest. More footsteps. They're slow... But not sluggish. More careful. 

"People?" Nepeta guesses, hopefully.

"You don't know that." Terezi reminds her. 

_God... Please help us._ Terezi prays, for what feels like the hundredth time since this whole apocalypse began. Her mom always liked her to pray, to say grace, and right now, faith is pretty much all she's got going for her. Her legs are hurting, shaking like somebody with pneumonia, and they're beginning to cramp badly. And Nepeta's claustrophobia is beginning to close in on her if her tight breathing is anything to go by. 

"Hello?" A voice calls out, uncertainly, "Is there anybody here?"

Nepeta squeezes her arm. 

Terezi shakes her head, wordlessly. They can't trust anybody.

"Nobody, Dirk." says another voice, "Told ya this place was fuckin' abandoned. Les'go." 

There's a scramble of footsteps as Nepeta finally loses her footing and grunts, her back scraping against the wall as she attempts to keep her hiding spot. There's silence from the two voices and the sound of slow, careful footprints. Terezi prepares herself to fight, clenching her hands into fists, in case they turn out to be violent. She's played enough video games to know that people in survival situations nearly always kill each other. The footsteps reach them. A click of a gun being loaded and then, the refrigerator is shoved hard. 

Nepeta squeaks and clings to her girlfriend and the ground rushes up to meet them. Something sharp pierces the skin of Terezi's hands and scrapes against Nepeta's knees. Terezi can instantly pick out the smell of blood. That bottle she knocked off the side hours earlier... They must have landed in the remaining broken glass. This is why kitchens are the worst places to hide out in- if they'd had time to run somewhere else, they would have grabbed the opportunity. 

But the creature had been hammering on the door and the breaking a window would have caused too much noise. Terezi rubs her hands on the legs of her pants and leaps to her feet, assuming a ready stance. 

"If we were hostile, you'd be fuckin' dead." The second boy, the younger sounding one says. There's a strong Southern twang in his voice that reminds Terezi of somebody plucking an instrument. She almost laughs at him before remembering she's meant to be wary of him. 

"If we were hostile, we would have kicked the shit out of you." Nepeta tells him, "And you could have attracted the attention of anybody by yelling. There are zombies around here, you know." 

As if to prove her point, the sound of somebody screaming echoes off the walls and then there's an odd sounding squelching noise that makes Terezi shiver from head to foot. 

"It's still here." The younger boy sounds scared, "Dirk, you said it would be gone."

There's a moment of silence before an unknown hand, one of the boys, grabs her by the arm and yanks hard on it so that she follows. She's about to tell him that you shouldn't drag a lady when the squelching noise grows louder, like death approaching, and he pulls faster so that she starts to run. Her feet pounding the sidewalk and the rush of blood in her ears is the only sound she can hear. That and Nepeta stumbling over herself and falling. 

"Nepeta!" Terezi almost screams. No, no, no. They can't take her. Anybody but her. 

She shakes off the boy's grip and lets her take her hand instead. Nepeta runs with her, obviously following their new allies wherever they're headed because Terezi doesn't recognise this path. There's a car door being yanked open and she's hustled inside with Nepeta after her. The door shuts behind them and there's a screech of tires. 

"So, you guys sisters or what?" The younger sounding boy asks, as his brother presumably, drives fast away from the lingering creature. Terezi scrambles to buckle herself in before the reckless driver spinning round corners can kill her. Jesus. This guy is driving incredibly fast, they must really be in danger. Maybe they're being chased? For the first time since this started, Terezi really wishes she could fucking see. 

"That's racist." Nepeta says, flatly. 

"I wasn't asking because of your race, Jesus." He says, though Terezi has no idea what he means, "You just seem pretty close for friends, that's all." 

Terezi cackles. "Because she's my girlfriend, coolkid." 

The boys drive them back to their hideout, though they offer the girls the chance to come with them. For some reason, the younger one seems to think the girls would do a lot better with their protection. The older one doesn't say much, so Terezi guesses he doesn't really care, but he does shake her hand and give her their number in case she needs to contact them. She's pretty sure they won't, though she thanks him for the ride home. Then, she slings an arm around Nepeta and waves them off. She helps Terezi climb over the fence into her backyard. 

"They were nice." Nepeta says. 

"Were they hot?" Terezi teases, "They sounded hot." 

"Shut up." Nepeta laughs. It's a sound neither of them have heard in a while. It's almost alien. 

The hideout is Terezi's old treehouse, which sits in the oak tree in her backyard. She figured out pretty quickly that these creatures wandering around town wouldn't be able to figure out how to unhook the rope so that it falls down. They definitely wouldn't be able to shimmy their way up the rope into the treehouse. Once both of them are safe, Terezi knots the rope around a branch so that nobody can climb up during the night. 

"Maybe we should have asked for a better gun." Nepeta says, as she unpacks the food supplies they gathered today from her bag. They have no way of keeping food cool so they can only eat foods that can survive outside of a refrigerator. Until today, both of them had been surviving off tuna cans and dry bread because neither of them had dared venture outside. The town seemed pretty deserted though, apart from that one determined "zombie". Maybe they're all hanging out somewhere else. Still, Terezi knows they can't take risks. 

"Our gun is fine." Terezi assures her, "Don't even worry about it." 

"Are you ever going to use it?" Nepeta asks, almost nervously, "Because I know I said I was cool with it... And I know we've killed zombies in our roleplays before but this is different. This a real life. If you shot one... That would be like killing a person." 

"It's only for emergencies." Terezi reminds her, "I wouldn't hurt anyone unless I had to." 

Since they haven't been able to pick up a radio broadcast, they have no idea if the creatures are being rounded up or if the entire world is dead. All they can get is scratchy audio. So, Nepeta reasons, they've got to ration their supplies. They don't eat much for dinner and then, settle down for the evening. They sleep in shifts, so Nepeta naps first while Terezi continues to fiddle with the radio. She's so glad that Nepeta is here with her. Nobody else would have trusted her to keep watch because nobody else trusts that you don't need eyes to see. 

Nepeta's always treated her like she's no different. And that's what she loves about her. 

Terezi sits with her legs tucked underneath her because a few nights back, she'd sat with her legs dangling over the edge and one of the creatures had been subtle enough to try and grab her. She'd kicked it away and it had scrambled away. She hadn't told Nepeta about that yet, even though their policy was always to be completely honest with each other. She wonders if the zombie that cornered them across town today had been the same one.

"Purrezi..." Nepeta says, for the first time in a long time, and she shuffles closer. She's meant to be sleeping but since Terezi hadn't heard her snoring, she'd been pretty sure she was awake. Now, she moves up close to Terezi and they both sit overlooking the garden. Nepeta shares the blanket so they can wrap it around both of their shoulders- it gets cold out here at night. But staying up here, out of the way, is better than being on ground level. 

"What's up, Nep?" Terezi rests her head on her shoulder. Nepeta has always been taller. 

"The mighty huntress..." Nepeta begins, in her roleplay voice; then, she sighs and kicks the trunk of the tree, her legs hanging dangerously over the edge, " _I_ can't sleep. Even though I know you're keeping lookout... I'm scared. I don't want you to get hurt." 

"I'm scared too." Terezi tells her, "The world seems pretty fucked up now. There are zombies wandering around and the entire town is either dead or missing. Any news from Meulin?"

Nepeta shakes her head. "Anything from Latula?" 

"Latula can't be dead." Terezi says, "You know someone like her could never die like this." 

There's silence on Nepeta's end, as they sit close together and think about the fact everybody they knew could be dead by now. They've only got each other... Terezi nuzzles her closer and presses several kisses into her hair, to make sure that she's really there. Being blind... She's always been reassured by evidence that she's not alone in the world. That's why she likes to have Nepeta's hand in hers, so that she knows she's there. 

"Promise me you won't die." Nepeta says, warm like a cat, pressing against her shoulder. It's uncharacteristic for Nepeta to be scared or upset... But in these circumstances, it would be pretty psychopathic not to be, wouldn't it? 

"I promise." Terezi tells her, even though she knows she can't really promise that. 

Nepeta sighs.


End file.
